Mauro Calanchina was Swiss by birth, but throughout the early years of the Opposition movement, he documented in photographs each of our actions, day and night. In that sense, because of his politics and his support, he became adopted by us as a Guatemalan.

As a result of this commitment, he became the author of an extensive record, black and white, considered the richest collection of images of the Guatemalan social movement in the years 1970–1980.

His unique archive covered events like the mass marches of the student movement alive by rescue student Robin Garcia and Leonel Caballeros; the march of the Ixtahuacàn Miners, who toured the country on foot in November 1977, and were received in the capital city of about 200 thousand people who walked along with them; the burial of Oliverio Castañeda de León, Secretary General of the AEU in 1978; and marches for the Day of the Workers on October 20.

"When doing research for 'The Echo', we contacted Mauro's widow Ximena Morales, who kindly gave us permission to use any of the photos she had in digital format. One of the first that I viewed was that of my brother, Carlos Ernesto, president of the Student Association at the University of San Carlos. Carlos was subsequently disappeared on 15 May 1984."— Ana Lucía Cuevas

In Guatemala, "between 1954 and 1990, human rights groups estimate that the repressive operatives of successive military regimes murdered more than 100,000 civilians." The declassified CIA documents from the National Security Archive reveal that CIA political assassinations were part of a "routine".